The Doctrine of the Jainas, Described after the Old Sources c8.229.1

c8.229.1

§96. The samaya dealt with above form an intermediate time (antara) between the existences. The antara is taught by Viy. 439 a=Pannav. 207 a and Viy. 632 b, and it is obvious that the beings are both santara and nirantara, the latter being the case when they are able to avail themselves either of the ega-samaiya-or the ujjuy’āyaya- course. In contrast to this it is not clear why there is explicitly no intermediate time given for the one-sensed beings since we know them to move in 4 sam.² With the last of all travel-samaya there begins the taking in of matter, the āhāra (Viy. 287 a). That is why the souls on the way are considered to be aṇāhāraga as follows from Pannav. 512a. It happens, though, that the intake of matter precedes the change of place (Viy. 729a, 789 a), i.e. when an earth-, water- or wind-being has performed the māraṇa-samugghāya imperfectly (deseṇam). We are not told why and when this happens. The intake of matter is understood to be an activity, joga (Viy. 854 a), and the joga of two beings in the first samaya of reincarnation (paḍhama-samaovavannaga) is unequal in kind when the one has arrived without and the other with a change of direction. By starting earlier the one is ahead of the other (abhāhiya). āhāra (acc. to Ṭhāṇ. 120 a one of the movements of the poggala happening without a force acting from without means) both the intake of matter for the purpose of reincarnation (comp. Viy. 701 b) and the attraction of atoms on the whole, especially for eating.